Greg Kinnear has signed on for "The Bad News Bears." He joins Billy Bob Thornton in the remake of the 1976 Walter Matthau starrer that Richard Linklater is directing for Paramount Pictures. "Bears" follows a group of Little League misfits who are transformed into winners. Glenn Ficcara and John Requa, the creative team behind Thornton's hit "Bad Santa," are penning the project.

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“Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” - Andy Warhol

Filmmaker Richard Linklater has just inked a two-year, first-look directing deal with Paramount. This on the heels of the announcement that Marcia Gay Harden has joined the cast of Linklater's Bad News Bears remake for Paramount. Production on the film that also stars Billy Bob Thornton and Greg Kinnear starts November 15.

Linklater's history of successful collaboration with Paramount was established by last year's Jack Black starrer School of Rock, which grossed $81 million in the U.S.

Linklater's recent work includes the romance-drama Before Sunset, the follow-up to Before Sunrise, both films starring Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, for Warner Independent. Also for Warner Independent, Linklater is in post-production on the animated A Scanner Darkly, based on the Philip K. Dick story.

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“Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” - Andy Warhol

first look, as in, they want all the movies that are going to make money and let somebody else have the ones that are too weird. anyways, i saw the original Bad News Bears tonight for the first time and it was pretty good. although a lot of sports movie conventions seem to be there, it manages to stay away from the traditional structure quite a bit from matthau's character not becoming less of an alcoholic to the team really not getting much better, etc. etc. which was really refreshing in a genre that can so easily go stale by slipping into cliches. the kids were all great too and man do i appreciate the non-pc-ness of it all. i dont know how they are going to get away with any of this stuff today and still have a kids movie. theyre going to be riding the pg13 line definitely if they want to capture the spirit and even then, they'll have to be toning down a lot of stuff. otherwise you'll have a crude R rated bad santa-esque movie that paramount would never allow this to be. hmm..... seems pretty pointless either way so i guess that makes it interesting.

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Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

They're peeved and litigious'Dazed and Confused' is a hit -- but not with the real Wooderson, Slater and Floyd, who've sued. Source: Washington Post

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — When we last saw them, Wooderson, Slater and "Pink" Floyd were stoned out of their gourds, driving into the East Texas sunrise in Wooderson's souped-up Chevy Chevelle, off on a sacred quest for Aerosmith tickets and smoking a breakfast joint as the end credits of "Dazed and Confused" began to roll.

But that was a long time ago, and it was just a movie anyway — a made-up story with actors. Right now — 11 years after the movie came out — the real Wooderson, Slater and Floyd are here, in a Huntsville law office, looking a bit peeved. They're explaining why they recently sued their old high school classmate Richard Linklater, who made "Dazed and Confused," for "defamation" and "negligent infliction of emotional distress."

"Like, for example, the scene that shows me showing somebody how to make a bong in shop class," says Andy Slater, now 45. "I never did that. But they used my name and they show me making a bong in shop class."

Slater pauses, then smiles. "I don't sit around the house making bongs." He laughs. So does Bobby Wooderson, 47. And Richard "Pink" Floyd, 46.

But their lawyers aren't laughing. They're trying to keep this whole thing very serious.

And it is extremely serious. There are important legal principles at stake here — such as the right to privacy, specifically as it relates to the right to avoid having everybody know what a knucklehead you were back in high school. That's why the lawyers get frustrated when all anybody wants to know is: Did you guys really smoke that much dope back in high school in 1976?

Slater smiles slyly. "Well, I wouldn't say it didn't happen," he says. "But I don't think there was any more here than anywhere else."

"Certainly those things happened at that time," interrupts attorney T. Ernest Freeman, "but that aspect of the movie was really exaggerated, particularly with respect to our clients."

Well, of course. Making bongs in shop class — that is a tad far-fetched. "Oh, no, they did that," says Slater. "But it wasn't me."

To fully comprehend the subtle legal issues of the case of Wooderson et al. vs. Universal Studios Inc. et al., it helps to have seen "Dazed and Confused" six or eight times. Which is no problem, because the movie is, like, awesome. It's an "American Graffiti" of the '70s, man.

Written and directed by Linklater, who grew up in Huntsville, it was made on a tiny budget with a cast of unknowns, including future stars Matthew McConaughey and Ben Affleck.

Set in an unnamed Texas town on the last day of school in 1976, "Dazed" is a delightfully comic anthropological study of adolescent behavior.

Critics raved: "The ultimate party movie, socially irresponsible and totally irresistible," said Rolling Stone. "The most slyly funny and dead-on portrait of American teenage life ever made," said Entertainment Weekly.

Floyd was eager to see it. He'd known Linklater a bit in school. So Floyd went to a local theater with his wife, brother, sister and cousin, Bobby Wooderson.

"I watched the movie, and I felt like they'd kicked me in the stomach," says Wooderson, now a computer systems engineer and a divorced father of two.

He was stunned to see a character named David Wooderson (played by McConaughey), a heavy-lidded Lothario who graduated years ago but is still hanging around, smoking weed and chasing high school chicks.

Floyd says he was shocked to see a character called Randall "Pink" Floyd, the star quarterback, who wonders whether he'd rather smoke weed and drink beer than play football.

Floyd had been a second-string offensive lineman on the school team, but the cinematic promotion to quarterback didn't make him feel any better about all the dope the Pink character smokes in the movie.

"My wife said, 'Oh, my God! What are we going to tell people?' " recalls Floyd, now the service manager at a Huntsville Dodge dealership and the father of two sons.

When Slater saw it, he was peeved about the character named Ron Slater, a stoner in a pot-leaf T-shirt who launches into a stoned rap about how George Washington used to toke up, smoking righteous weed in pipes packed by Martha. "Who knows? I might have said that," says Slater, a bachelor and a building contractor. "I was quite outspoken back then. That's probably why Rick Linklater might have chosen me as a character — because I disagreed with marijuana laws and I was vocal about that even in high school. But I was never walking around with a marijuana leaf on my shirt or handing out joints. I was not that character in that movie."

The guys asked each other: Did Linklater call you? Did you give permission to use your name? Did you get any money out of it? The answer to every question was: No. No. No.

They never mentioned suing Linklater that night, they say, because they figured this low-budget movie would fade away.

"People ask, 'Why did you wait to sue?' " says Wooderson. "Well, I just wanted it to go away. Nobody knew who McConaughey was. Nobody knew who Affleck was. Nobody knew Rick Linklater from Adam. It was a low-budget, low-rent movie, and we figured it would just go away."

Instead, it became a cult hit, McConaughey and Affleck became stars, and Linklater became a respected director. Slater, Floyd and Wooderson found themselves semi-famous.

"I was skiing in Colorado one time," recalls Wooderson, "and I turned in my skis and said, 'Wooderson,' and the kid goes, 'Wooderson? Like in "Dazed and Confused"?' I didn't say anything, but somebody with me says, 'Yeah! This is him!' And the kid says, 'Dude, you need to come party with us!' "

Floyd recalls: "I have a nephew who was getting married in Bangor, Maine, so we went up for the wedding…. My nephew's in his late 20s and he has all these friends, and we get out of the car and one of them yells, 'Pink Floyd!' It was good-natured fun on their part, but I'm there with my wife and kids, and it was rather embarrassing to me, especially when they go, 'Man! "Dazed and Confused!" Love that movie! Let's go burn one!' "

The incident that sparked the lawsuit came last year when Slater picked up a woman for their first — and last — date.

"She got in the car," he recalls, "and she says, 'My mother gave me a hard time about going out with you. She wants to know if you're still a dope dealer.' "

That did it. Slater called lawyer Freeman, who recruited Santa Fe entertainment lawyer Bill Robins to help him. Slater persuaded Wooderson and Floyd to join him as plaintiffs.

Robins filed the suit Oct. 8 in state court in Santa Fe because New Mexico has a longer statute of limitations than Texas. The suit accuses Linklater and Universal Studios of defaming Slater, Floyd and Wooderson, violating their privacy and causing them "severe emotional distress" and "mental anguish."

The defendants filed papers requesting that the case be transferred to federal court but otherwise have remained silent. A Universal spokeswoman declined to comment; Linklater declined interview requests.

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“Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” - Andy Warhol

Perhaps the estate of John Holmes should sue Paul Thomas Anderson for loosely basing Boogie Nights on Holmes's life. And Mia Farrow's sisters can sue Woody Allen for Hannah and Her Sisters. Come to think of it, Diane Keaton could sue Woody Allen for Annie Hall, which is based upon their relationship.

perhaps linklater didn't have to be such a dingleberry and could have CHANGED THE FUCKING NAMES!

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The corpses all hang headless and limp bodies with no surprises and the blood drains down like devil’s rain we’ll bathe tonight I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls Demon I am and face I peel to see your skin turned inside out, ’cause gotta have you on my wall gotta have you on my wall, ’cause I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls collect the heads of little girls and put ’em on my wall hack the heads off little girls and put ’em on my wall I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls

yeah no joke, but this is total horseshit. why sue them now? the movie came out in 1993! all of a sudden they're are pissed about it. this sounds like a bunch of old, burnt-outs who are broke and need the cash to fill up those pipes with more weed. i'd bet my mother's life that each of those assholes still have an old bong somewhere in their attic, if not in their kitchen.

bullshit. the movie is probably the best portrayl of teenagers ever made.

The corpses all hang headless and limp bodies with no surprises and the blood drains down like devil’s rain we’ll bathe tonight I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls Demon I am and face I peel to see your skin turned inside out, ’cause gotta have you on my wall gotta have you on my wall, ’cause I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls collect the heads of little girls and put ’em on my wall hack the heads off little girls and put ’em on my wall I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls

Just watched Tape for the first time. It was very cinematic, considering it was set in one room with just three characters. The sense of "no exit" claustrophobia worked to the film's advantage. The performances were excellent -- as Ebert noted, the actors had nowhere to hide. Linklater's variety of camera angles, his blocking of actors, and his editing made it seem less like a filmed play and more like a movie set in one location.

Looking back over Linklater's career, I'm amazed at the variety of his films, and the high quality overall. The same year Tape was released, Linklater also did Waking Life, which is quite different stylistically. Or think how different School of Rock is from Before Sunset.